Really neither ATI or NV is better than the other, both have been pretty competetive since ATI finally caught up with DX10+ hardware, they kick ass now, but still have higher failure rates...a strong reason I got my GTX260 over an HD48xx series to this day, no regrets...
got any proof of this?
From my experiance and that of many people i know the 8800gt has had stupid high fail rates for example.....
One it's called quote it right, two it's called Google and research. Part of why I got a GTX260 back in July was one, it was generally the same price or cheaper to a comparable 1GB model (were they out then?), two it had more stable "out of the box" operation at the time with better drivers, cooler temps, OC-ability and fan tuning that didn't require anything but installing Riva or Precision, three way less failures per-search per card model. Look in the NV side, look in the ATI side, compare GTX failures to HD48xx failures, I've done this on many forums...including TPU. Both sides will have failures, and that's fine, but a card burning up because of the bench Furmark? Come on...the same hot as hell VRM's that have been used since and probably before my 1950 pro and xtx? Why? They get too hot and can fail..same dissapointing strategy. The VRM's on my 260 run COOLER than my GPU does..which runs cooler than most stock HD48xx series with it's stock cooler. I'm not a fanboy, I do my research and pick what I feel is best for me, the statements I make that you require proof of are summaries of my research of sludging through forums, threads, reviews both pro and consumer, thb till I did, I was going to get an HD48xx series card..still no regrets. You want the facts, feel free to search for yourself.
That's not what this thread is about at this point though...this thread is about the losses NV has taken in Q4, which sucks, but they still make a decent part that does a good job, for me I installed it, installed drivers and went, the temps were fine at stock and the performance was solid. Sure I OC'd and tweaked, but I didn't have to to keep it stable, which was what I was after this time around, something that (remember, back in July mind you) was plug-n-play, it did that and excelled greatly, still does, glad to see prices have gotten better and I hope NV can stay competetive for sure, ATI is definately churning cards out, and damn solid performers.